


The Jar

by Ellick_Trashcan



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, How Do I Tag, Other, POV Nick, Post-Episode: s16e13, soft nick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:01:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23421361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellick_Trashcan/pseuds/Ellick_Trashcan
Summary: Also thank you to @onlyhereforellick for proofreading and @hellokaelyn for encouraging me to share it!
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 7
Kudos: 42





	The Jar

**Author's Note:**

> Also thank you to @onlyhereforellick for proofreading and @hellokaelyn for encouraging me to share it!

There it sat. At the bottom of a drawer no one but him would ever think to look in. A once empty jar that was now filled with water. Keeping it out would lead to too many questions from too many people. Most of them he could easily shrug off, making up some story or bs excuse. All except for one. For her. He could never lie to her, and even if he somehow managed to, he knew she would be able to see right through it.

_“What am I supposed to do with an empty jar?”_

_“I don’t know, put something in it you don’t want to lose.”_

Nick remembered that conversation he had with Kasie all those months ago as if it had happened yesterday. That same day he had taken her advice. That was the day he had filled the jar, the day he almost lost her. When they had pulled up next to her truck and he heard the gunshot, his heart began to sink. As he ran around the house, he saw a man shooting haphazardly into the water before his coworkers took him down, but she was nowhere to be found. “Ellie!” He desperately yelled out his partner’s name, refusing to believe the sharp pang in his chest. As much as he hated to admit it, he cared about her. Somehow, she managed to get under his skin, managed to break through the walls he had so skillfully built in order to protect himself while he worked undercover.

His mind raced with all the knowing looks they had exchanged, all the inside jokes they had shared. The way she looked at him when they had first met. The way she stuck by him whenever he started to doubt his abilities to work as a part of a team. The way they were there for each other after they lost Clay. Then came the moments he knew he would never be able to forget. The way he felt after she kissed him while they were undercover. The way she had somehow changed his mind about maybe wanting kids someday after they took care of Cody. The way he started seeing red when she told him about her date with Boyd and how he just couldn’t let it happen.

When he saw her come out of the water with the missing Navy officer, he felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. He could breathe again. But above all else he knew one very important thing. He knew that, no matter what, he couldn’t lose her.

So, there it stayed. Buried at the bottom of a drawer, hidden away known to no one but him. A jar filled with the water he almost lost her in. There to remind him that nothing is permanent. There to remind him that without Eleanor Bishop, Nicholas Torres would be nothing.


End file.
